Saturday, January 28, 2017

good old fashioned hash

I can remember when we had this when I was a kid and it was a staple in my mother war on hunger and it is a staple in my artillery as well.

Hash

potato's, to your standard

hamburger, sausage, what every you have on hand

shredded cheese

seasoning

Season hamburger while browning. Brown. In meantime boil potatoes just like you would for mashed potatoes. Do not mash this recipe takes the potatoes just short of that. Mix meat and boiled potato's. Mix in last 2 that's it enjoy

If you find time to make up some home-made cookies for your family you cetianly do not want to have them go bad by not taking care of them. You most likely are smart enough to realize you can bake in batches. But what do you do when you have so many tasty goodies at one time?? The most logical reasoning is to freeze them. But sometimes there are those yummy goodies that do not do well freezing and thawing. An alternative would be to store them in an air tight container with an apple wedge thrown in. The cookies will absorb moisture supplied by the apple. This will help keep cookies fresher for longer. Replace the apple slice as needed. This trick also works well with a piece of bread instead of apple.

Another issue that may haunt your baking is burning the goodies. Mistakes will happen and often over browning happens because of doing to much at one time. In this modern day and time that happens easily. Don't throw them away because the burnt goodies can be saved. Using a box grater scrape off the bottom layer of the cookie. So you tell me you burnt the top of the cookie. O.k. another easy fix scrape off dark burnt places and ice them with frosting or powder sugar icing. This will make them have a decorated look and also offer a sweeter taste.

The first Kazoo was created in the 1840's. Alabama Vest of Macon Georgia conceived the Kazoo and had Thaddeus Von Clegg a German Clock master made it for him.

While created in the 1840s the first Kazoo was not created until 1912 when Emil Sorg from Western New York and Michael McIntyre a Buffalo tool and die maker started producing them in New York. Today you can find a factory museum dedicated to the Kazoo.

Kazoos are easy to play and work by simply humming a tune into a kazoo. Kazoos can be played alone or in a group. Tunes can be played either way.

January 28, 2017 marks 165 years of kazoo playing in America. Some believe this date should have actually occurred on the fourth Thursday of January. Kazoo players have known not to be perfectly precise so either date can be celebrated. There are some that think that Kazoo week should take place January 23rd through the 29th.

1) This song is about a girl who is eager and anxious for her new lover to call. Do you owe anyone a call? An email? A text?

nope, think I am up to date.

2) The lyrics are peppered with the informal English exclamation, "cheerio!" What pops into your head when you close your eyes and think of England?

I can not help but think of my good friend from England Her name was Dylys and we called her dilly. She told us about growing up there, war time, the royalty and oh so much more Love how that term is used in this song though like the formal greeting

3) This week's artist, Karmin, is a husband/wife duo who met at college, and that meeting changed the course of their lives and careers. Think of someone who has had a huge impact on your life. Did you know, as soon as you met, that this was going to be a life-changing relationship?I met my husband and 5 days later we were engaged to get married. Now 30 years later happy and together

4) Though she sings about consuming tequila, the female side of Karmin, Amy, is a big proponent of healthy eating. She recommends organic foods that are free of pesticides, hormones, food coloring and added sugar. Think about your most recent meal. Was it a good example of "healthy eating?"wow, maybe not the last one because kids fed me but the last 3 before that I would say most definetly

5) Husband Nick has his own Twitter account (@NickKarmin), but he doesn't use it often. His last tweet was back in August. What's the last thing you posted to social media? (No, your blog doesn't count.)

My pinned status is about smiling if you want to know more then come see me on twitter @shopannies

6) Karmin performed "Brokenhearted" live on Dancing with the Stars. DWTS is very big business for ABC-TV. So many people vote for their favorite couples each week that their phone and text systems often overload. Have you ever voted for a contestant on American Idol, DWTS, The Voice, etc.?I personally never have but I know that my children, my brothers and sisters and my mother have before.

7) In 2012, the year"Brokenhearted" was popular, the average cost for a gallon of gas was $3.91. In 2016, it had dropped to $2.40. When it's time to fill up your tank, do you shop around for the lowest price/gal.? Are you brand loyal and always return to the same station, regardless of price? Or do you just buy gas from the nearest station when you're running low?

Gas yesterday was $2 a gallon. We often look around for the best gas prices one friend has an app that lets her know where the best price is

8) In 2012, the Space Shuttle Endeavor was retired and placed on permanent display at the California Science Center, a Los Angeles museum dedicated to encouraging excitement and enthusiasm about air and space travel. Let's say you had a long weekend to spend in Los Angeles. Would you go out of your way to see The Endeavor? What else would you like to do during your time in the City of Angels?

I am sure that my husband would take the grand kids space missions have always entertained my husband thoughts. Los Angeles I am not for sure what we would see I would say like every where else we would check out the museums, art work and so much more.

9) While we're thinking about aviation ... Statistics show that it's still a predominantly male field, and less than 10% of commercial pilots are women. Would you be nervous flying with a woman pilot?no why if she earned her wings what should we be afraid of

My mother in law (God Bless Her Soul) always loved carrot cake. This recipe would have pleased her greatly. The yummy add ins on this oatmeal may just put a smile on your face as well. Enjoy

It’s a crucial time of year for many people. You may have made a resolution to eat healthier in the new year. For the first few days, egg whites, wheat toast and packets of oatmeal seemed satisfying. But after a few days, those things began to seem boring. I have a solution for your resolution… an oatmeal revolution… Crock-Pot Carrot Cake Oatmeal with a decadent Cream Cheese Frosting Drizzle.

I’m ahead of the game resolution-wise. I resolved to eat more oatmeal and use my crock-pot more.

Before we start…. an admission. If you make this without the drizzle, it’s not as special. It tastes fine but lacks a certain joie de vivre. But as soon as you add the Cream Cheese Frosting Drizzle, magic happens. It immediately starts to taste almost exactly like carrot cake.

The ingredients list is long, but the cooking process is amazingly simple. Grab a couple grated carrots, some steel cut oats, water, maple syrup, applesauce, raisins, chopped nuts, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Chuck all that stuff in a slow cooker. Give it a stir and then cook on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, stir it up – adding a little milk until the consistency is just how you like it. Top each serving with a little Cream Cheese Frosting Drizzle.

To make the Cream Cheese Frosting Drizzle, just take some cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, milk, vanilla and salt and whisk it up until a smooth frosting forms. Add just enough additional milk so that it drips off the whisk in thick stream. Dribble that good stuff over each serving and prepare to be dazzled. It’s a good idea to have your cream cheese at room temperature. The drizzle comes together much easier that way. Another thing I like to do is place my mixing bowl over a pan of warm water. A little gentle heat makes the mixing go smoother.

A Quick Note About Crock-Pots:

Over the years, I’ve learned that crock-pot recipes work only as good as your crock-pot works. In so many recipes for slow cookers, you see a huge dichotomy in the comments and reviews. The same recipe can work to perfection for half the people. The other less fortunate half report scorching and crusty edges. In most every case, the disappointed have crock-pots whose low setting cooks too high. The solution is to get to know your slow cooker. Like it or not, I know that 3/4 into the cooking time I need to stir the ingredients and probably add a little more liquid. People with awesome crock-pots can sleep through an 8 hour cooking time. Not me. I have to set an alarm and wake up two hours earlier. I’ve learned to live with it.

In short, check this oatmeal after 6 hours if you have any doubts about your crock-pot. If the sides and bottom are cooking too fast, give everything a stir and add a few more tablespoons of water.

This weekend the WWE wrestling royal rumble, soon will be the super bowl and after that who knows. If you are like me you dont want to be tied down waiting for all those to come and enjoy while you slave away preparing the dishes. This is easy to set up, eat and enjoy

If you’re cooking for a crowd, bake your potatoes ahead of time (I love russets for baking) and keep them warm in a cooler. Yes, really! While your potatoes are baking, fill the cooler with hot (not boiling water), then empty and dry thoroughly Store the potatoes in the cooler with the lid closed until needed. This will make a great dinner that is easy to make and share and most importantly enjoy it. Kids (and adults) love being able to personalize their own potato.

Download the printable cards here They will help to direct your guest to what they are dipping. There are several cards

Quickly rinse the sticky rice under cold water, drain and place in a rice cooker. Add the peanuts, palm sugar, sesame seeds, salt and water. Stir to mix and turn the rice cooker on. Alternatively, if you are using a pan on the stove, combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and keep just below a simmer, until the rice is done, approximately 25-30 minutes.

Once the rice is done cooking, keep covered for an additional 10 minutes.

Lightly butter or grease an 8-inch by 8-inch square pan or a baking dish of similar size (I used an 7-inch by 11-inch baking dish). Remove the lid from the saucepan or rice cooker and gently fold the ingredients together to evenly distribute the peanuts and sesame seeds. Transfer mixture to the prepared pan and press down lightly and evenly. Scatter the top with the coconut. Let stand for 30 minutes to firm up. Cut into squares and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Although this Burmese rice cake is made with whole sticky rice, as opposed to sticky rice flour, both desserts are sweetened with palm (or brown sugar), which gives the cakes a nice, caramel quality and flavor. It also couldn’t be much simpler. Just toss a bunch of ingredients in a rice cooker (or saucepan), cook until the rice is done, press into a pan and sprinkle with coconut. Easy.

While I’m not sure if this sticky rice cake has the same promise of good luck as traditional nian gao, I’ll happily eat it year round just for the taste.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Chocolate has not always been so welcome in America. In the beginning chocolate was consumed primarily as a beverage. It was in the 1830's and 40's that chocolate cakes started to resemble those that we know today. It all began when a doctor and a chocolate maker teamed up in an old mill. Cocoa beans were ground up to make thick syrup. The liquid was then poured into molds shaped like cakes, these were meant to be transformed into beverage.

Chocolate is derived from the cacao tree. It is considered the "food of the gods' Chocolate was not always the treat as I shared all ready it was often made into a drink. The chocolate drink was also not very sweet and at times had been fermented. The Aztec's would make a chocolate drink that was often too bitter. Europeans sweetened this drink but it was still only that a drink. Dutch cocoa was created in 1828 when a dutch chemist created a powdered chocolate. The process to create this cocoa involved removing some fat from the liquid chocolate. It would be Joseph Fry to create the chocolate bar by adding some cacao butter back to the chocolate paste. Both the Dutch chocolate and the chocolate bar for shaved curls are very important to delicious chocolate cakes. Now days chocolate is available in many versions. Single layer chocolate cakes, Devils Food Chocolate Cakes or even individual cakes with warm liquid centers known as lava cakes. Flour less chocolate cakes are great for those who are gluten sensitives. Use a box mix to create a chocolate cake as well. Pillsbury was the leader on the chocolate box cake mix which appeared on shelves in 1948.

12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

1 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon milk (optional)

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

vanilla ice cream (optional but highly recommended! )

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray as well, then set the pan aside.

Place 8 ounces of chocolate and 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter in a large microwaveable bowl. Melt the chocolate with the butter, stirring often, until completely blended. Add sugar and mix well. Then add your eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift your cocoa into the bowl and then stir until just blended.

Thomas Crapper is the man that helped create the porcelain throne. He did not create the flush toilet but what he did invent was very important. Crapper was actually active in popularizing the water closet.

Crapper was a salesman and a self publicist. During the days of the out houses when inside bathrooms were for the rich and not spoke a lot of Crapper promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom.

Crapper was important in helping modernize indoor plumbing. The Thomas Crapper & Co ltd continues to create reproductions of Crappers original design. Crappers flush toilet was so popular that the word "crapper" became a synonym for "toilet" and individuals thought that Crapper was the inventor.

Louis XIII and his reign set the fashion of wearing wigs. His reason simple enough prematurely balding. Why not wear a wig?? The fashion statement took off and by the middle of the 1600's everyone was getting involved. The wigs would grow bigger as time would go on.

Now I can recall a story that one teacher in my early grades taught me was not that it was seen as esteem but that wig wearing was mandatory. Why you might ask?? Well, according to her it was because of the unclean lifestyle where bugs were abundant and shaving of heads often took place. Real or not I do not know all I know is that I have always recalled that story.

By the time that wig wearing reached the 1800's the wig was a means of showing importance. Wigs were very expensive and only the most prominent could wear the big wigs or "bigwig" The bigger the wig the more important the person. Thus, the term of big head. Are you a big head??

For years I punched in and out using a punch clock. Recently these have become a bit old fashioned for some and companies have started using other ways to clock in and out. The place of business I work out actually uses your work number an finger print. I thought I would never see that day but here it is. What do you think do you still punch in on paper and out again when the time of day comes to go home??

The time clocks of yester year worked by inserting a heavy paper card known as a time card into a slot on the time clock. When you slid the card to the rear of the machine it would print the date and time on the clock. The time keeper could then have an official record of the hours an employee worked to calculate and pay an employee.

The first time clock was invented November 20, 1888 by Willard Bundy. Bundy was a jeweler in Auburn New York. Harlow Bundy the organizer of Bundy Manufacturing Company began mass producing time clocks. The International Time Recording Company was created when the Bundy group joined 2 other time equipment businesses in 1911.

In 1958 IBM's Time Equipment Division was sold to Simplex Time Recorder Company The time cards usually had the workdays and time in and time out areas marked them so that employees could "punch in" or "punch out" It was the employee who took the responsibility to line up the correct area of the card to be punched with an indicator on the time card.

Kronos Incorporated in the late 1970's introduced the punch card system. Another update took place in 1990s when time clocks moved away from the punch system and went computer based. A number was entered into these machines, swipes a magnetic stripe card or has a tag to clock in.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice green tomatoes. One slice per sandwich. Grease cooking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray. In a bowl crack two eggs and whisk. In another bowl, mix handful of panko, handful of Parmesan cheese, dash of salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Drench tomato in egg and then cover completely in panko mixture. Place tomatoes on cooking sheet and cook until golden brown (about 30 minutes). I baked the green tomatoes instead of frying to keep the sandwich less greasy. Trust me…you won’t be disappointed with the baked green tomatoes.

While your tomatoes are baking, fry your bacon. You’ll want it to be crispy friend because it is just better that way. Slice your sourdough bread (avoid slicing it too thick because it will take too long for your cheese to melt). Butter both sidesof your bread and heat up a skillet or griddle (spray with butter flavored Pam or add butter).

Build you sandwich like this: first add Gruyère, then baked (but fried tasting) green tomato, a bit of Miracle Whip, bacon and then Swiss. Place in skillet or on griddle and grill until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is completely melted.

In a Dutch oven or large pot, saute green pepper, onion and butter until tender. Add veg­eta­bles, water, bouil­lon, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 min­utes or until the veg­eta­bles are tender. Com­bine flour and milk until smooth; stir into pan. Allow to thicken at a low temperature. Add the pars­ley and other spices. Just before serv­ing, stir in the cheese until melted. Yield: 6-8 servings. This chowder freezes very well also! Just allow room for expansion.

Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring sucanat, honey, and water to a boil. Stir until sucanat is dissolved. Bring to a boil and add coconut oil and vanilla, stirring constantly until mixture reaches 280F on the candy thermometer. If you don’t have a candy thermometer (like me!), then you want to have a cold glass of water nearby and drop a bit of the mixture into it every few minutes until it forms a stiff ball in the water. This will confirm that it is hot enough.
Add peanuts and continue stirring until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or for another 2 minutes or so, or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads Remove from heat and quickly stir in baking soda. Work quickly and pour at onto cookie sheet, spreading out with the spoon to form a thin layer in a rectangle shape. Cool and then break candy into pieces. It takes about 10-15 minutes to cool. Store in a covered container.

Mix Sugar, Corn Syrup and Evaporated milk in large pan and cook over medium heat.
Sir occasionally.
Mixture will begin boiling. If it boils too close to top reduce heat slightly.
Continue cooking until mixture reaches soft ball stage (235-245 degrees). You can test for this by seeing the syrup forms a ball while in the cold water, but flattens once removed from the water.
When it reaches this stage, remove from heat.
Take butter and grease inside of glass baking dish.
Add remainder of butter and vanilla extract and stir until butter is melted and incorporated.
Add peanut butter and continue stirring until mixture start to lose its’ sheen.
Then pour into buttered baking dish and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 13x9" or 3 quart baking dish with cooking spray or butter.Peel and cube potatoes and boil in heavily salted water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.Dice onion and place in a bowl with cottage cheese, sour cream, parmesan cheese, parsley, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir to mix and add chicken and potatoes. Stir to mix and pour into prepared pan. Top with cheddar cheese.Bake for 40 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbling.

This is a stir fry dish that features Chinese Curry. Curry powder comes in hot and spicy in a range you can use what you are most comfortable with. Most of the big brand yellow curry powders are mild with a delicious flavor.

Preparation:Slice the chicken breasts lengthwise in half then cut crosswise into ¼ inch thin pieces. In a bowl, combine the chicken pieces with the marinade ingredients. Mix together thoroughly and set aside. Peel the carrot and slice crosswise into ¼ inch thin pieces. Cut the green bell pepper into 1 inch squares. Cut the onion into 1 inch chunks.

To Cook:Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick wok or a large fry pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, brown 1 tablespoon of curry powder for just a few seconds. Add marinaded chicken, cook and stir to separate the chicken pieces for about 2 minutes. Add carrots, bell peppers and onions. Stir-fry until the chicken is almost cooked through and the vegetables are tender but still crisp for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon sugar. Cook and stir for another minute. Serve hot.